For the right to live free: Acres

neo chai chinToday Online 14 Dec 07

At an animal sanctuary in Zambia, a South African vervet monkey called Blue has found familial bliss with its wife and two babies.

Nothing surprising there, except that Blue was previously smuggled from South Africa to Singapore and spent the first six years of his life in a cage.

And somewhere in Singapore's central catchment area, a long-tailed macaque called Angelina has a new lease of life after being rescued from a Zion Road temple.

I ask animal welfare activist Louis Ng, 29, what the process of rescuing and repatriating a smuggled or illegally-kept animal is like and he replies: "It's a nightmare".

But stories like these give the executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) hope, for they are the result of his efforts to give these animals their lives back.

Louis' interest in animal welfare began when he was 14 and he watched the movie, Gorillas in the Mist, which told the story of researcher Dian Fossey's work with mountain gorillas.

"During the movie, I told my mum that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

As Louis discovered more about animals, he realised he was, in many ways, "part of the problem and not the solution". So, he gave up drinking turtle soup and eating stingray among other things.

And after volunteering with animals, he felt strongly that more had to be done to inform the public about the way animals were being treated — or rather, mistreated — "behind the scenes".

So, in 2001, he set up Acres with a friend. The group has rescued about 170 animals so far from pet shops and private owners. It has also raised awareness of the illegal animal products trade, and the smuggling and mistreatment of animals.

Louis is also hopeful that with Acres' soon-to-be-opened Wildlife Rescue Centre at Choa Chu Kang, the animals they rescue will be better cared for.

The 2ha space houses an education centre, live-in quarters for volunteers, quarantine quarters for up to 48 cases at any one time, and 62 enclosures to house the animals after their quarantine.

The ultimate aim, however, is to repatriate the animals, which means restoring them to their country of origin.

In the meantime, Acres' seven staff members are busy getting the centre operationally ready and raising funds. They need $1m to build the centre and run it for a year. So far, $665,000 has been raised.

And Louis, who has a Masters degree in primate conservation, says he will apply to be a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) after the current batch of NMPs have completed their term.

"I will raise issues about animal welfare and youths. In Singapore, we have the luxury of choosing to make a difference," said Louis.

"I want to get youths to play a bigger role in society and tell them that the individual can make a difference."

Links

Acres website